Has the Church Come to Love Her Traditions More than Her Children?
A storm is coming. An alarm has sounded. The beauty of s
storm warning system is that you have time to prepare. You know the location of
the storm and scientific approximations of when it will hit your area. Do you
hear the alarms? Are you prepared for what is coming and for what is already
upon us? Church, we have a problem!
I recently attended a conference in Arlington, Texas that
was focused on the discipleship issues of churches and how they reach out to
the Mosaics (the term coined to define those in the age group of 18-29 years
old.) The conference was titled You Lost Me and it referenced the
research done by Barna researcher David Kinnaman that was published in a book
by the same name.
There are some clear indications in the research of things
the church can do to turn the tide of this mass exodus of young people from our
congregations and even the complete rejection of their faith as a whole. As Kinnaman stated, though, “It’s
complicated.”
There were 7 clear reasons why the Mosaics say they are abandoning
their churches and their faith. Those reasons include:
·
Church is overprotective
·
Church is repressive on issues of sex
·
Church is anti-science
·
Church seems exclusive and excludes those who
are different from them
·
Church allows no room for doubt
·
Church is shallow and superficial
·
Church is rigid
If you are like me, my initial reaction was to justify why
some of these issues were important, but the more I stopped and just listened,
I think I finally heard what these young adults were saying for the first
time. We often have pat Sunday school
answers to these concerns, but this generation of young people is demanding far
more than a pat answer. They want
dialogue. Not debate—dialogue. They state that Christianity does not seem to
answer these deep questions with thoughtful or challenging ways. A pat answer
will drive these young adults farther from the church and their faith.
An argument could be made that the church should never
compromise its standard on the basis of culture. American culture should not be
shaping the church. This is true. But to deny the reality of the culture we
live in and then attempt to make Christianity relevant to the Mosaics is to
drive that wedge between this generation and the church even further.
This is Not Your
Father’s Babylon
Kinnaman further explained the fallacy of thinking in the
boomer generation. It seems the baby boomers are not too concerned about this
fall out of young people because historically this has always happened. Their
experience has taught them that they will return to the church and their faith
when they have children. It is a temporary absence. Unfortunately, research shows that they are
terribly mistaken.
The baby boomers seem to have forgotten the landmark
transformation their generation had on the face of the church. They ushered in
the Jesus Movement which many decried was a “spirit of Babylon” taking over the
church. Churches began to stylistically change to keep and meet the needs of
these passionate new believers. Tradition sort of yielded to the newer and
contemporary sounds of Keith Green and contemporary Christian music. Some
rejected this new cultural trend saying it was a passing fad—but the baby
boomers were building the church of a new generation and saw the importance of
being relevant to the people and speaking the language of the culture. Some
called it compromise; others called it good mission work. Whatever it was, it
changed the landscape of the church forever. The boomers made their mark on
their world and the church.
But fast-forward to the age of the Mosaics we see now
leaving their faith and their churches. What has happened? We are seeing the
boomers holding fast to the traditions they created and being unyielding to the
reality of culture that our young adults live in. If this generation is not
given the same liberty to bring their faith in God to the culture they live in
and be able to tackle the issues of the day, the only epitaph of the Mosaics to
the Christian church will be, “You lost me.”
As Kinnaman continued to declare, “It’s complicated.” The “Babylon” the Mosaics live in is not the
same “Babylon” the boomers lived in. A plaguing question that must be answered
is why did the boomers forget the impact they had to change their world and the
church? Why would we not afford the Mosaics the same opportunity for the sake
of Christ to be carried to this generation? Why is it that we think the Mosaics are no big
deal and the church won’t have to change to reach them? Kinnaman further challenged the boomers and
said, “We have to be just as vigilant in taking on self-righteousness in the
church as we are about unrighteousness in the world.” And he was far from
finished. In fact, he was just getting started.
Kinnaman began to discuss the passage of scripture in
Matthew 18:6 which states, “…but whoever causes one of these little ones who
believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in
the depth of the sea.” He further went on to explain the context of this
passage being about false teachings and heresy.
Then he framed his next question with great conviction. “What if the way
we are doing church, the way we are discipling (or not discipling) is just as
heretical that this passage would now apply to us?” Our church’s current approach to Christianity
is driving off 59% of the Mosaic generation—that is 59% who grew up and were
actively participating in bible-believing churches and now say they will never
return to the church. Are we harming an entire generation of young people’s
ability to grow in Christ and make it relevant to the current culture? It’s
complicated.
In this complex culture the Mosaics find themselves
submerged in, Kinnaman suggests that there are 2 kinds of courage that are
needed:
1.
Courage of Purity: to be able to live God and
their convictions in a complex culture
2.
Proximate Courage: to be close enough to culture
to influence it and the courage to stand up to a self-righteous church
How Do We Reverse the
59% Exodus?
The research and interviews with the Mosaics revealed 5
specific courses of action that would keep them connected and active in their
churches and faith:
1.
Meaningful Relationships: research showed that the Mosaics who
maintained healthy connections with their church had strong personal relationships
they made at church but that were fostered outside the church. Mosaics are
highly relational people.
2.
Cultural Discernment: Mosaics do not want to
compromise their faith to fit in the culture, but they do want the church to
recognize the complexities of the culture they do live in and not dismiss it as
irrelevant.
3.
Reverse Mentoring & Life Modeling: The
people of Israel needed Esther. And it our modern society it may be for such a
time as this that we need the Mosaics to teach us how to make Christianity
relevant to this culture. We lose when we don’t include and challenge young
people. They expect diversity and relish it. For Mosaics there is a fine line
between discipleship and brainwashing. They want to be able to coexist with
people in our culture that are different than them and treat others with
dignity and respect. They want others to respect their personal faith
preferences and beliefs so they are willing to respects other’s right to
believe or not to without thinking less of a person.
4.
Vocational Discipleship: 97% of the average congregation
is never going to be called to vocational ministry. These people are natural
resources of carrying the Gospel into the marketplace. Only 16% of Christians
know how the Bible relates to their chosen profession. Help people find the
link of their faith and their profession and celebrate how God uniquely called
them to the field they are in for a purpose.
5.
Recognize Mosaics can hear the voice of God:
There is arrogance in many churches that are stuck in tradition that God gives
wisdom to the elders. But there are times, as in the story of Eli and Samuel
that God’s voice is no longer discerned by older leadership (for whatever
reason) and God is speaking loud and clear to the younger generation. But they
are often met with the resistance that what they are hearing from God is
pushing against established traditions.
To say the situation at hand is
complicated is quite the understatement. But now, more than ever, if we are
reach the Mosaic generation (of which only 4% claim to be Bible-believing
Christians with a Christian worldview) the church needs to do some serious
re-evaluation of what it will take to reach this generation. The question
remains valid: What if the way we are currently doing church (that is driving 59%
of the Mosaics to abandon their church and their faith) qualifies us to have a
millstone placed on our neck and tossed into the sea? Will we bridge that gap
between the boomers and the mosaics? The
future of the church and the cause of Christ depend on it. Let the discussions
and transformations begin.
